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I was thinking about this last week while responding to Cait‘s comment on my Top Ten post about picking books. She’d mentioned that she didn’t really love the second two Daughter of Smoke and Bone books, and it got me thinking about how people don’t even bother with certain series if they’ve heard the end is bad. I am guilty of this too, and I have even said to others that maybe a series isn’t worth it because the last book wasn’t great.

So, I figured this needed to be a discussion post. How do you guys feel when a series starts off really strong, but ends with you throwing the book into oncoming traffic? Does it even matter how good the first book is if you hated the last one with the heat of a thousand suns?

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Now, I am going to do my best to keep this spoiler free, but just by saying I hated the end of a few of these might be spoilery? I don’t know, so just… proceed with caution if you haven’t read them- they are all older series though!

These series endings made me weep, and not in the good way.  Did they change my mind on the series as a whole? Let’s see!

The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

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Yes, these are only two books in the seemingly never-ending series. I loved these books. No, they weren’t exactly the fodder of classics, but they were fun as hell. Until around book 10, when things started to get… boring. Filler-ish, if you will. By book 13? What happened?! I am pretty sure some person who hates this series and its fans wrote the last book because it didn’t even make any sense! 

Was this series a wasted read because of the ending? A resounding YES. Sookie might has well have been back in the beginning of book one by the end. Reverse character development? Pass.

The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth

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Come on, you knew this was coming. Unless you happen to be one of the five or six people who liked Allegiant, you feel my pain. What was that!? It wasn’t just the ending that was a hot mess, but the whole book seemed off, forced almost, and bored me to tears. Yawn. Which is so unfortunate, because I absolutely adored the first two books! I reviewed it, and was sad the whole time.

Was this series a wasted read because of the ending? I can’t decide on this, which is why I never quite know what to tell people. I really did adore the first two books but… Ugh, Allegiant. I am on the fence.

The Delirium series by Lauren Oliver

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I cannot even explain how much I loved this series. Cannot. I bought the third book in hardcover, and am now convinced that if I buy only the last book in physical form, it is a huge jinx. Here’s the thing: I liked every minute of this series. What is my problem then? It ended. Without warning, mid-shenanigans, BOOM, bye. I still hold out hope that one day, Lauren will spill and let me know what happened in her head.

Was this series a wasted read because of the ending? Nope. I feel in absolute love with Lauren Oliver because of the writing in this series, and I think when I find the other two humans on earth who are staunchly Team Julian, we will become forever friends. I am glad I read this one, even if the ending infuriates me. I even found an ARC of Pandemonium (my favorite!) on #booksfortrade!

The Testing Series by Joelle Charbonneau

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Admittedly, I wasn’t in love with this series. But it started out decently, if not completely originally. But as it progressed… well things got so mind-numbingly ridiculous and bothersome that I could barely finish. You can read my review of Graduation Day here… but it isn’t nice.

 Was this series a wasted read because of the ending? Well, yeah. There wasn’t really any point to the series, I didn’t feel like I gained anything by reading it, even if the first one (and even some of the second one) was fun.

 Well, now I feel like a huge buzzkill. 

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SO- I will cheer you up with some series whose endings make me feel like the whole amazing journey was absolutely, unequivocally worth it.

Shatter-Me The Hunger Games Series coversChaosWalkingTrilogy_zps9f8951eeunwinddystology

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So, what say you? Do you worry about series endings ruining the whole thing? Are there any series ending soon that you are terrified of? What are some of your favorite and least favorite series enders? Let’s talk about this, people!!

Posted July 15, 2015 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Discussion, Discussion Challenge / 86 Comments

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86 responses to “Does a Bad Ending Ruin a Series?

  1. I wasn’t a big fan of Allegiant but I didn’t dislike it either. I mean, it was bound to happen in my opinion (Thinking about it now makes sense. Back when I read it, not so much). I haven’t heard good things about the Delirium series which is why I haven’t read it yet. I’m glad people adore the Shatter Me series. I will read Unravel Me and Ignite Me for the first time next month so I’m very excited! #TeamWarner

    • I really disliked Allegiant, and not just because of “the thing”. Which I also knew was coming before I read it, but didn’t make me like any more certainly. And the Shatter Me series gets better with each book- SO good. I hope you love it! 🙂

  2. It’s not that i don’t mind, because I do, but it doesn’t ruin the whole series for me. When it comes to THG I only really liked the second book, the third was terrible and the first was okay. As for the Divergent series, I loved one and two a lot, and will always love them, but hated the last one (not because of said plot twist but that most people hate it for, but because it was soooo boring.) I just think that it’s wonderful when the ending is great, but if it’s bad I still love the other books ^^

    Check out my recent review: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2015/07/harry-potter-and-sorcerers-stone-review.html

    • I totally agree with you- my hate for Allegiant was NOT just the plot twist thing- it was the WHOLE BOOK. I mean, I was borderline comatose when the “shocking thing” happened- and I kind of knew it was coming anyway, so I just kind of grumped away.

  3. Great discussion, Shannon!

    I have Pandemonium and Requiem to thank for the fact that it takes me so long to finish series nowadays, because I’m constantly terrified the ending’s going to be a huge crater of a disappointment. I know a lot of people enjoyed Pandemonium but I really didn’t like it; I was really disappointed that Lauren Oliver decided to bring in a love triangle when the first book had felt so different to any other dystopia I’d read. I loved Delirium, though, and to be honest I think that book would have made a stunning, heartbreaking standalone, so I usually tell people just to read the first book!

    I think a disappointing ending can turn me off a series, particularly after the whole Requiem disaster, purely because you invest so much time in a series. Why should I bother reading a series with a disappointing ending when I can just spend that time reading an amazing standalone? But then at the same time everyone’s tastes are different, so what might be a disappointing ending to some is an amazing one to others. It all depends on personal preference! 🙂

    • Thanks! I agree with you about Requiem- it was actually my first “series end fail”, so at the time, I was LIVID. But after some even MORE spectacular disappointments, I realized that Requiem somehow could have been worse. Plus, it allows me to still have my team Julian fantasy? But yeah, I’d basically sell my soul for an epilogue.

  4. I faithfully read every Sookie book, the first half dozen or so where fantastic, then the gradually went downhill, it did not have the ending I was expecting and yes it totally fouled up the series for me.

    I loved Divergent, I enjoyed Insurgent and I can’t bring myself to read Allegiant even though I have had it since its release, I know what happens at the end and I just think how could she (Veronica) do that after we have dedicated our time to reading these books for that to happen!!!

    The Hunger Games was awesome from start to finish, I haven’t read Shatter Me yet but I am glad to hear it is well worth reading.

    I did read the Lauren Oliver books and I remember book 3 being a bit meh, I maybe need a re-read!

    Great post!

    • YEP! I feel the same with Sookie! I feel like it peaked at book 4, and then just got worse and worse. I mean, it didn’t NEED 13 books. I think that was a big part of the problem!

      I agree about Allegiant. And really, as much as the END-end was awful, the whole book was very, very “off”. It was nothing like the first two, just dull, and not at all captivating.

      HUNGER GAMES <3 I know not everyone loved Mockingjay, but I did! I think it was very fitting, albeit heartbreaking. Shatter Me is awesome- it gets BETTER with every book, which is such a rarity! Thanks so much 😀

  5. I haven’t finished any of the series that you mentioned. Except THG, which I loved. I will eventually read Allegiant, despite bad reviews, I want to see for myself. I will definitely be reading the Shatter Me series at some point.

  6. This is such a great discussion. I think it really depends on the series, but I have to say Allegiant ruined the whole Divergent series. It made me regret picking it up in the first place.

  7. I’m pretty bad at finishing series, especially if I’ve heard bad things about the last book. Like with Allegiant: absolutely loved books 1 and 2 but after everything I’ve heard about book 3 there is pretty much no way I am reading it. I’m not sure if a bad ending completely ruins a series though, I guess it just depends on how bad it was. With Kimberly Derting’s Body Finder series I thought the ending of the series was really lacking – it seemed like nothing was resolved! Having said that, I didn’t hate it and I still love all the other books, but it really affected my opinion of the series as a whole :/

    Great discussion! Now the next time I pick up the last book in a series I’ll be thinking about this 🙂

    • Yeah, I think they really can taint your view on a series- I mean, since it is of course the LAST part of it, AND the thing you’ve read the most recently, how can it not? I don’t really blame you for not reading Allegiant- I bet there’s some fanfic out there with a WAY better ending 😉

  8. You know what? I’ve never really thought about this before. But it’s so true! When I saw that you mentioned The Sookie Stackhouse series, it brought up my anger again for that ending. I accidentally got spoiled for that series when I was on book 10 or 11 and I couldn’t finish. What a waste of a series (oops that might be a little harsh). Both the ending in the TV show AND the ending in the books was HORRIBLE!! So the hardcover of Dead Ever After is sitting on my shelf unread … probably forever :'(.

    • OOOH the anger! And I haven’t finished the TV show yet- I had been holding out hope for a better ending, but then I heard that everyone hated that too. I give up. Damn you, Sookie! Also, Dead Ever After sucked as a whole, so I wouldn’t even bother 🙁

  9. I agree with this post! I never read Allegiant because I dislike Insurgent. It bore me to the death. And the fact that I already know how it end made me lazy to read the third book. As for THG, I like the first two books, but I end up DNFed the third because it confused me xD I agree with Shatter Me trilogy though. It’s one of my favorite series!
    Great discussion!

    • Well, if you were bored by Insurgent, Allegiant would straight up put you in a coma! It was SO boring! And Mockingjay… well, I love it, but I know a lot of people agree with you! Shatter Me WAS fabulous though, glad you liked it too 😀

  10. I do not think that just an ending can ruin a book. After all, a journey is more about the travelling and the path you take than the actual destination. That is what road trips are. It is more fun to talk/play/mess around with your friends in a car/bus/RV then when you actually arrive to your seemingly coveted destination. I mean, when you finally get to the place, you are really just looking forward to the trip back.
    I also think that a good book is always going to be a good book, no matter what the other books in the series are like. I refuse to let the last couple of pages of a series that I invested so much time (and maybe even money) ruin the whole journey for me. Most of the time, I grow with those characters and live with them. Nothing, not even a bad ending, will take that away from me.
    Great discussion! I agree that this had to be said. As a community, we really need to decide if we are going to let a bad ending ruin our favorite books.

    • Well, I must say, I am incredibly impressed with your take on this! I think I agree, to an extent. I mean- if a series WAS incredibly strong, you are totally right- the ending won’t totally destroy it, how could it? But I guess if the series as a whole was weaker, the ending could kind of push it over the edge into ruination? That’s kind of how it worked out for me, at least in my examples! I love this viewpoint, so positive and uplifting!! Thanks so much for sharing it!

  11. Yep! I’m not a fan of series generally, honestly. I feel overwhelmed with how long series can be sometimes, and I worry that I won’t have the time to read the entire series. Plus the wait between books is horrific. But then when I’m not even a fan of the last book – ugh!! I’ve read a few, like Shatter Me, which was definitely worth the entire read. I totally agree with you on that. But I honestly never finished the Divergent series after hearing all of the hatred over book 3. I got about halfway through book 2 and put it down. I really should finish I guess… but why bother if I’m going to hate the last book? Definitely a tough one. Great post, girlie!! I love it! 🙂

    • The wait is THE worst part, I swear. Well, okay, second, only to a bad ending 😉 I wouldn’t bother with finishing Divergent honestly. It is too depressing, AND kind of a waste of time. Not even just the END part, the whole book was soooo boring. Thanks so much 😀

  12. ReadiculousGirl

    This post just found one out of your two new Julian friends…
    I am iffy on the endings ruining a book series because I’ve had some really awful endings that didn’t make me hate the previous books, and other endings that made me immediately sell my entire book collection by that author. A story is about mostly the journey, yes, but why did I want to live in a dystopian/evil high-fantasy world for an entire series if the main characters don’t help fix it?
    Your post was really great!

  13. Well HELLO forever friend because TEAM JULIAN here!!! I loved him and the Delirium series and the third book. So that one was a winner for me. Totally agree about Sookie and Divergent. I still need to read the Shatter Me series. I hate to admit this, because you may take away my friend status, but The Ask and the Answer bored me to tears. I DNFed. Maybe I should try again? Love this post!

    • YAY another Team Julian! We have a club forming, see above ^^, there are three of us now! I loved it up until I have NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED. I just wanted ANY ending at that point, even if it wasn’t what I’d hoped for! Bwhaha I mean… if you didn’t like it, you didn’t like it. Did you like The Knife of Never Letting Go? I guess that would be the key- if you DID like it, then maybe give it another try, but if you felt “meh”, then maybe don’t bother.

  14. I have totally avoided reading Insurgent and Allegiant since I know how it ends. Sometimes, when I’m in a serious mood for crying and wonder how powerful it really is, I’m tempted. But I don’t have time to read both of them to get there when I know I’ll just be really angry. And after the ending of Delirium, I pretty much figured out what was going to happen, and when I read the synopsis for Pandemonium, I kinda knew there was going to be a love triangle, so I just stopped.

    I think that ultimately, I’m a bitter enough person that any shitty ending will probably ruin a series for me no matter what. I’ll think of the other books fondly but won’t ever reread or want to look at my copies.

    I read Shatter Me and totally didn’t like it but FOR SOME REASON I DECIDED TO BUY THE SECOND TWO BOOKS so someday I’m going to reread the first and keep going and hopefully love it this time.

    • Honestly? I didn’t even cry that much! I was so BORED and annoyed that I was only mildly upset- and I am a BIG crier.

      And seriously, speaking of looking at copies- having all 13 of those damn Sookie books PLUS novellas… man, they make me stabby. I had to put them in a box and store them elsewhere because NOPE.

      Bwhaha I love that you didn’t like it BUT still bought the sequels! If it helps, I was only “meh” with Shatter Me, but loved each subsequent book more and more!!

  15. I’m Team Julian!!!!!! Or Julena as it were. So much so that I couldn’t even face the prospect of reading “Requiem.” I like to think the series ends with “Pandemonium” minus the last couple of paragraphs.

    See my Julena fan art:
    http://ms-digne.tumblr.com/post/119639883884/lovedeliriumn-lovedeliriumn-ms-digne-my-ya

    As for the “Divergent” series, I didn’t like “Allegiant” but not for the reasons most other people didn’t like it. I thought the ending kind of worked for the series although it was a down. What lost me was the middle of “Allegiant.” Roth flipped the plot one too many times and completely lost me. The plot takes over from the characters. You know when you are watching a soap opera and there’s that point where they are just: “You accidentally married your brother’s half-sister’s best friend’s hairdresser’s husband but you don’t remember it because you had amnesia, but don’t worry his other wife is cool with it because she was abducted by aliens who have wiped her brain and are turning her and your brother’s half-sister’s best friend into mutant zombies bent on world domination, provided they can get enough Cheez-Its to power their spaceship’s ray guns …” And you just stop buying it anymore. You don’t buy the characters or the premise … You just don’t care. That’s what happened to me by the end of Allegiant.

    • OOOOOH Julena, I like it! Also, your fan art is AMAZING, you are so, so talented! And I agree- maybe in the non-ending, we can just pretend that it ended up going our way 😉

      YES- you have nailed it with Allegiant. I could have lived with the ending, though I didn’t like it. But the rest of the book was just… no. I felt the same way, I didn’t care. SO much so, that by the end, when the “thing” happened, I was so bored and mad that I didn’t even care that the thing was happening!

  16. Nope a bad last book doesn’t ruin the series for me, because I just pretend it didn’t happen. I might be a little delusional lol. I haven’t read Allegiant because other people saved me, but I pretend the last Grisha didn’t happen. (And Mockingjay. The PTSD was too close to home for me) I didn’t like the second Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but the third was good again. Chaos Walking was good up until the dog, I read the whole trilogy but couldn’t forgive it. Sookie was good at first but too romancy for me I only made it to like book three before giving up. Great discussion topic!

  17. I think a bad ending can absolutely ruin a series. Because of how I organize my blog and reviews, I don’t spend a lot of time recommending later books in series (unless they’re companion books rather than direct sequels). I’ll review them, but in terms of read-a-like suggestions I’ll only mention the first book unless I’m directly talking about a series suggestions. Because of that, if I don’t like the end of the series I can still feel okay recommending earlier books.

    That said, when I’m not happy with a series ending I am 100% more likely to get rid of the books I own from that series. I am also likely to have major hesitation in reading the author again.

    I think it’s also worth considering the difference between losing interest in a series and just avoiding it because of a bad ending. For instance I read Divergent, liked it at the time but it was such a long wait from when I read an ARC to when book two came out that I lost interest and decided to skip the rest of the series. When I heard what happened in Allegiant, while I was intrigued, I knew if I hadn’t given up after book one, I definitely would have before the series conclusion. But then, I feel zero loyalty or obligation to series I don’t love so it’s rare for me to stick a series out if I’m not a big fan.

    • Oooh, that all makes sense! I totally agree with the future hesitation- I don’t want to be let down again! I am scared for Veronica’s new series, to be honest. I am going in very warily.

      And yeah, I think that losing interest can definitely be a big factor- especially when SO MUCH time passes between books. Your preferences in general can change quite a bit in such a span!

      Also, can we talk about you reading DIvergent as an ARC!? That is just amazing, even just to be able to say ‘Hey, I read that as an ARC”! Now, if you tell me you read The Hunger Games as an ARC, I won’t be responsible for my freak out 😉

      • Haha, thanks! One of the perks of being an Amazon Vine member. I think my other “big” ones were The Selection, Grave Mercy and Beautiful Creatures. I missed THG as an arc but one day I will tweet you pics of my signed Hunger Games hardcover and my stamped Mockinjay hardcover 😀

  18. Oh, that is a lot of disappointing series. But I feel you. To be honest, if a series ended badly, I’ll just pretend the ending didn’t exist and read some insanely talented fanfiction instead.

    Because hey, if they author lost that spark that pulled me into the series in the first place, I want that spark to still exist, so I’ll reread the first two, ignore the last one. And find alternate fanfiction for that which is better than the actual book. Because there are some really talented people out there.

    • The fanfiction idea is such a great one. I need to take advantage of that more, especially for some of these series. I did read one for Allegiant, and it made me feel MUCH better, though I do kind of wish it was an entire rewrite 😉 Thanks for the awesome suggestion- I think I am going to try this, at least with Requiem!

  19. Sometimes I worry about the concluding book ruining a series, but other times, I just charge ahead and read it anyway because I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like not finishing a series if I liked the first book.

    I have noticed that I’m apparently one of the only people who thinks that Allegiant didn’t ruin the Divergent trilogy. I thought the ending was sad, but I think the ending really showed how dedicated Tris was to restoring society. It made me think.

    I also liked the ending of the Delirium trilogy by Oliver. I think I’m just one of those people who really like non-endings, and that one really impressed me. I just loved how she left it up to the readers to decide what happened at the end, but I definitely have to re-read all three books.

    There was one trilogy that I read that the third book really ruined the books for me, and it was Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian. I just thought so much effort went into the first few books, and then whole third book just felt kind of wishy-washy to me – almost like they rushed it. 🙁

    • I have heard the same about Burn for Burn- it really makes me not even want to start it! I have the first book but it was like $2.99 from BookOutlet so… I won’t exactly lose any sleep over it 😉

      And see, it wasn’t the END of Allegiant that ruined it. I will say I wouldn’t have LIKED it, ever. But it wouldn’t have been a deal breaker. But the entire BOOK felt off for me, just so blah.

      I do not like non-endings. If I am ever rich, I will give Lauren Oliver copious amounts of money to write me an epilogue. 😀

  20. I loved the Delirium series so much. I also fell in love with Lauren Oliver with that series. The ending of the Divergent series shocked me, but I wasn’t as devastated as others. I think I got why the author did it. Maybe. I don’t know why she did it really, other than to toy with our emotions. Ha.

    • I mean, I GET why she did it, and I think she explained it VERY well on her website (which, to be honest, I really appreciated!) but the whole book just felt so, so off to me. It wasn’t even the death, it was everything that lead up to it too. Ugh, endings 😉

  21. My review of Graduation Day wasn’t too nice either. I’m with you that I’m on the fence about the Divergent series being worth it still. I don’t like to recommend it anymore because it isn’t enjoyable as a whole, but it was a great series to discuss. Oh and on your recommendation I just started Unwind 🙂

    • Same! I don’t recommend it either, because I don’t want people to be like “what kind of fresh hell did this girl put me through!?”, even though I did genuinely like the first two books. And I am glad I am not the only one who was ragey about Graduation Day!

      OHH YAY! Are you… well I can’t even say LIKING Unwind, because who LIKES it!? Are you entertained and appalled by it? I am so excited to hear what you think!

  22. I still haven’t read the last Sookie book and maybe it’s better that way as most people didn’t seem to like it much. I loved the series and mostly read the books back to back and then had to wait for the last book and haven’t read it so far. I also haven’t read Allegiant yet, there was so much focus and drama about that book that I just lost interest. I loved Divergent, enjoyed Insurgent a bit less and now I am not sure if I want to read the last book. I definitely think an ending can influence how you feel about a series as a whole and as endings usually are so clearly remembered I think they can have a big impact on your overal view and opinion of a series. Luckily there are also some series out there with great endings. I am always a bit nervous about series endings and how it will end.

    • Yes, leave Sookie a little less pathetic in your mind by not reading that last one 😉 Seriously, she like, regresses. I binged books 1-9, then had to wait for 10-13, and was disappointed with ALL of them.

      And yeah, if you weren’t a fan of Insurgent, then I’d definitely pass. It is so boring, and the ending sucks of course, so… yeah.

      I agree- THANK YOU to the amazing series enders 😀

  23. I think if I hate the ending – whether it’s a standalone or a series – the whole reading experience is ruined for me. This is how I’ll remember the characters FOREVER, so if I don’t like where they end up… well, that pretty much sucks, and it’ll color how I see the entire book/series. Usually I avoid books with bad endings, but it can’t always be helped if I start a series and the last book is still being written, but I have managed to dodge quite a few. I’m not gonna waste my time on a character/couple if they are gonna die, split up, etc. :/

    • YES! That is the thing- you don’t remember the falling in love with them part, you remember your heart being stomped on! SO frustrating, especially if you have no idea that it’s going to be that way. And even WORSE if it is a long series that you’d invested a lot in. I need some good endings!!

  24. I just finished the Hunger Games! I agree with you that the Hunger Games was an amazing trilogy! It was absolutely worth it! I’m reading Insurgent right now and I’m curious if I’ll enjoy Allegiant. I’ve heard a lot people didn’t like Mockingjay, but I really enjoyed it so who knows. Maybe I’ll like Allegiant too.

  25. I firmly believe now that a bad series ender can ruin a series — for me, The Ruby Circle ruined the Bloodlines series. It was SO bad and so cheesy. Also Sweet Reckoning ruined an otherwise amazing series 🙁

    I haven’t even read book 3 in either the Divergent or Delirium series because I’ve heard not to bother! UGH, it’s the worst!

    • I have heard horrible things about Sweet Reckoning, I even traded mine away after that! And yikes, I will be skipping the Bloodlines series then! I don’t like bad and cheesy- that sounds exactly how Sookie was! And with Requiem, the whole BOOK wasn’t bad, if that helps. Allegiant, however, was a mess from start to finish 😉

  26. I’m one of those five people who liked Allegiant, as you know, and I actually liked the ending to Requiem too – and I DIDN’T like Mockingjay. Uh-oh. What does this mean? Are we incompatible readers or something? I’m going to go now and read some reviews on books we agreed on to make myself feel better …

    Okay, we’re good. I’m with you on this one – I think that a bad ending CAN really ruin a series, but it doesn’t automatically (for instance, even though I didn’t love Mockingjay, I still think of that series as being amazing overall). It’s always a horrible shame, though, when you LOVE a series and it goes sadly wrong!

    • WHAAAAT!? How are we even friends?! What is this sorcery!? Don’t tell me you were Team Gale! 😉

      But yeah, it CAN! I mean- it doesn’t always, but it has to at least dampen your enthusiasm for a series, you know? You can’t pretend you didn’t hate the last book! It is such sadness 🙁

  27. Ah, Sookie! I miss her and Bill and Eric! (Team Bill, here!) The series went off the rails as soon as the fey were introduced. From that point on I was hella confused! I did read every book though! Once I caught up, I looked forward to my Charlaine bubblegum every spring. It was nice break from my normal depressing fare. ? I think it was pretty obvious who Sookie would end up with at the end. As a side note, I met Chalaine and got books 1 and 2 in my set signed!

    Ug, I just relived my loathing of Allegiant with Brels this week! What was Allegiant? A plane wreck…oh, wait the characters don’t know what a plane is! *head desk* My review: http://www.secondrunreviews.com/2014/02/book-review-13-allegiant-by-veronica-roth.html.

    And I was fine with Mockingjay. With all the horrible things Katniss and Peeta endured it could only end up,that way. And Gale, how could anyone like him after the incident with Prim?

    Great post!

    • I was staunchly team Eric, but even Bill would have been a better alternative! UGHH I hated that ending. I totally agree with you- it lost me when damn Sookie was also non-human or whatever. I guess it WAS obvious (I had guessed it in book one, but then by the end, I had hoped I was wrong), but.. still NO.

      Bwhahah I loved your post about Allegiant! SO TRUE. And YES- I totally agree about Mockingjay- if she’d ended it with rainbows and unicorns, it would have been ridiculous!

  28. Personally, I don’t worry about series endings ruining the whole thing for me, mainly because the ending is what the author mainly wanted to happen, so I feel like what happened was meant to happen, if that makes sense. That was a really long run-on sentence if I ever did see one! Anyway, I have had trouble getting over some endings like the Death Cure by James Dashner and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. The endings were upsetting but I have come to peace with them because the books prior were just so great.
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

    • Well, I suppose you DO have a point there. I guess it probably depends on a LOT of factors really, whether you can accept the ending (not that we have a choice hahha). I don’t completely even remember The Death Cure ending! I know I did not love it. Maybe i blocked it out 😉

  29. I actually haven’t read any of those series with poor endings … Although I do know the ending of Allegiant for Tris, and in theory it sounds pretty cool to me. I dunno. I’d definitely be sad if a series ended poorly, but I don’t think it should overshadow a good prequel.

    • It wasn’t the ENDING ending of Allegiant that turned me off as much as the WHOLE book. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t LIKE the end-end, but I may have been better able to tolerate it if the whole book hadn’t been a trainwreck 😉

  30. Wow I can’t even believe that the Hunger Games is on this list as a great series. I didn’t even SEE THAT COMING. No but now you’re making me excited for the Shatter Me series. So yay. And yes. I am guilty. I will not read a series if I’ve heard that the ending is not up to par. So nope. Not gonna read Divergent. And not gonna finish the Delerium series. SORRY NOT SORRRRYYYYYY

  31. First, I have a confession to make… I didn’t love the end of Hunger Games… Like I completely hated Mockingjay when I first read it! It was the first YA series I really really loved and I hated the last one, I mean, it’s grown on me since and I love the first two no matter what but the third? Eh. I can take it or leave it.

    Also, I think I’m one of only three people who loved the ending of Delirium! I’m an open ending kind of person! But anyways, yes! I am terrified of series enders now. After Allegiant(which I haven’t read but know how ends) I was terrified to read the last Legend book and still haven’t because of that. Basically, I have abandonment issues that make me never ever want to finish a series.

    • Oh, you’re good with Champion. I don’t completely remember it, but I know I didn’t hate it- it was actually my favorite of the series. I wonder if I reviewed it… But you aren’t alone with Mockingjay. I mean, I loved it, but I know I am probably in the minority. And I can’t do open endings- at least not THAT open 😉

  32. A bad ending can completely destroy any love I had for the previous books, but it really depends. Sometimes I dislike the ending and I can deal with it (I still LOVE Shadow and bone & Siege and storm, but I don’t like Ruin and Rising), sometimes it’s just done.

  33. I’m sorry but the Sookie Stackhouse book covers are so damn painful to look at. That’s the main reason why I’m struggling to pick them up, because omg the covers are just CRINGEWORTHY! I’m actually one of those people that SUCKS at committing to a series. The first book HAS to blow me away for me to be like, ” okay Tika, I must read the rest of the books. ” I read Shatter Me and loved it, but when I got to the sequel, Adam and Juliet’s relationship bothered the hell out of me. I ended up DNF’ing it, but people love this series so much that I really want to continue. If you haven’t seen me rave about Patrick Ness, I’ll do so now . . . I FUCKING LOVED THAT TRILOGY! I read all three books in less than 4 days, and even semi attacked a girl at the library when she tried to snatch the last copy of Monsters Of Men. Nah boo boo this baby is MINE! So far that’s the only trilogy I’ve read where I gave all the books 5 stars! But to answer your question, YES! The ending to a standalone novel can kill my entire experience of the book, and the same goes for a series. If I didn’t like the ending to the first book, I probably won’t continue. The same goes for the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th book. Now if it’s the very last book and I wasn’t feeling the ending, it completely effects my feelings towards the entire series. Allegiant is a perfect example of this lol.

  34. Great discussion, Shannon! For me, a bad ending *can* ruin an otherwise good series. Maybe ruin is too strong a word, but it is does taint the series for me. Allegiant, for example. I didn’t *hate* it, but come on… y’know? It definitely changed how I feel about the series as a whole. And not in a good way. I’m unsure if this works the opposite way (bad first book but series ends strong) because usually if I’m not really impressed by the first book, chances are I’m not going to continue on with the series.

    • Yes, taint is a very good word! Yep, I know exactly what you mean, because HOW can you think about the first two without thinking about the craptacular ending? You cannot. The whole thing just reminds you of the nonsense that is forthcoming.

      Actually, I think it DOES work in reverse! I was kind of “meh” with Throne of Glass, but LOVED Crown of Midnight, and now consider myself a fan. Same with Shatter Me- it was okay, but the sequels make it one of my favorite trilogies! So hey, that’s a positive, right?

  35. I am with you on “Allegiant.” I loved the first two and then came that third book. I cried, too, but not for good reasons. The ending was just… argh! I felt like I wasted my time when I invested in the trilogy. I will check Tahereh Mafi books. I’ve been seeing some book bloggers mention that, so it’s probably worth reading. Thanks for this cool post! 🙂

  36. What a great post! I was so disappointed with Allegiant. I loved Divergent and recommended it to everyone when it first came out then nothing. Also, I loved Delirium, got disappointed with the sequel and I just don’t want to pick up the third book after hearing horrible things about it. These days I like to wait until the end of a series before picking it up because all of that wasted time!

    • Aw thanks 🙂 I agree- I made ALL my friends read Divergent! And then I felt really bad when they were all super angry about Allegiant. I don’t even blame you about waiting for series. I mean, what if some of the ones we are REALLY invested in end up being a mess? That is like, my biggest reading fear!

  37. I do think endings can ruin a series, or at least, affect how much you like a series, and that’s just unfortunate, you know? These things happen, and we have to move on, but I agree, Mockingjay brought out the Hunger Games series so well with a brilliant ending, and it was my favourite of the series for sure! 🙂

  38. Oh my goodness I agree with so many of these! The last few books of the Sookie Stackhouse series were just awful. Did you read the “coda” book that was published after the last book that was supposed to give an epilogue to every character in the series? It was awful. Quinn’s chapter was one sentence. It was something like, “Quinn had many more adventures.” I like to pretend Allegiant doesn’t exist. Not just because of the controversial part, but the whole darn book was poorly done. Requiem was completely awful. All of those endings has really made me look back negatively on the series, even the books within the series that I liked.

  39. I must admit, I hated the ending of Allegiant. I had so much hope for them and when it was over… I literally cried for days. My family thought I had gone nuts. Seriously. I’m not kidding. I had puffy eyes for a week. Never before had I cried that much over a book. I was a wreck. I mean, I loved the ending for evoking such strong emotions in me, but I still hated it… a lot.

    And Requiem, oh Requiem, how did I… I… accept it for what it was. I must say I hated Julian with all that is in me. In my opinion he had no reason to be in that book whatsoever. We did an interview with Lauren Oliver a year ago and I don’t want to put any words in her mouth… but I felt like I could detect a little bit of a Team Alex vibe from her as well, which like, made my week and gave me hope for the series. If you feel like checking it out here’s the link: http://bookshelfreflections.com/2014/07/11/cider-with-a-writer-lauren-oliver-2/

    Also, I gave up on the Sookie Stackhouse series after book two when my lovely Bill turned into… whatever it was he turned into. I never could shake the feeling though that they just HAD to end up together. So sad they didn’t.

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